Boarding Maneuvers in Pirate Isles

[krelios]

We played our first game of Conan last night and we ended up pressed into service on a Zingaran pirate ship after we escaped the gallows in the distraction of their raid of the town. (It was a blast, by the way.)

When we got into our first ship boarding action, things got a little confusing. The example in the book and the other threads here seemed to answer most of my questions, but one still remains. When the book lists requirements for certain maneuvers such as Jump or Tumble skill 10+ I assumed that meant the total bonus, including modifiers; however, one of the other players assumed it meant ranks.

The feats list ranks explicitly for requirements (i.e., Jump 6+ ranks) and some of the other maneuvers simply drop the qualifier altogether (i.e., Swim 10+). Has there ever been an errata to clarify which is which?

 

[shouit]

It means ranks. Confused me at first too.

 

[krelios]

Do you have a source for that? Anything official or is it just your interpretation?

 

[shouit]

The main book always said ranks, I think, in the manuaver descriptions, I just assumed that Pirates was a typo. I dont have my book, so I cannot confirm, but if you look at the preview of 2nd Edition, Kip Up states 5 ranks of tumbling and 5 ranks of jump.

 

[Spectator]

OK I know the difference betwee the two, but why should it make a difference. If you have a character with his base ranks in name your skill and his bonus of +2 for whatever, why should he be held to a different standard than the guy who has number of ranks w/o any racial bonus or ability bonus?

I always thought if the Zamoran thief had a +5 RANK bonus, a +2 Racial bonus, and a +3 ability bonus then he should be qualified as a thief with no racial or ability bonuses who had a +10 bonus.

It seems like you shortchange the point of having bonuses if the character can't equally participate as another less racially skilled and ability-skilled dude, right?

I think I'm house ruling this as well, now.

 

[Krushnak]

unless it specifically states ranks i always do it as total bonuses in the skill must equal or exceed the amount stated, so racial, feat and stat modifiers mean something.

 

[librarycharlie]

You're the GM, just use your best judgment. Sometimes a maneuver or feat is so amazingly challenging, that an argument can be made that you must be trained a certain amount (ie skill ranks) to do it.

Other things (like jumping from one place to another) are hard to imagine training being much more advantageous than natural ability.

Fact: Someone who is in amazing physical condition but has never jumped anything will still get a better distance on a jump than the dude who spends 6 hours per day trying to jump, but weighs 800 pounds and can barely stand up.